JWL Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Watching now as nothing else on. Quite simply the best TV detective series ever shown on telly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DH1986 Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Not even he could figure out how Neilson is still in a job though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One five Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Just now, DH1986 said: Not even he could figure out how Neilson is still in a job though. 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beni Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Fits the age profile. Is it a 4 year deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWL Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 Move to Shed please Mods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rory78 Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 "Just one more thing Mrs Budge"? "Why is Mr Neilson still in a job"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stirlo Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 I've never been into the detective genre much but I always found Columbo episodes a good watch. The idea of showing the crime at the start and it all being about how he solved it was quite clever. I was really surprised to turn the telly on a few years back and see Billy Connolly starring in an episode. It turns out it was one of the last episodes they made - "Murder with too many notes". Connolly plays a composer in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyJudyJudy Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Loved it . During lockdown watched most of the episodes online . Peter Falk was a very fine actor . Yes the programme was ground breaking due to its plot line , in which the viewer knew the murderer from the start . Most of the plots were well written and had clever stories to them . Some great guest stars too in the classic episodes from the 1970 s such as Anne Baxter , Patrick mc Goohan, Leonard Nimoy , Vera Miles , Lee Grant and William Shatner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Maroonblood Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Brutal programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 43 minutes ago, stirlo said: I've never been into the detective genre much but I always found Columbo episodes a good watch. The idea of showing the crime at the start and it all being about how he solved it was quite clever. I was really surprised to turn the telly on a few years back and see Billy Connolly starring in an episode. It turns out it was one of the last episodes they made - "Murder with too many notes". Connolly plays a composer in it. The format is often called 'how did he catch 'em?'. As opposed to the more known 'who dunnit?'. Columbo and the films were pure genius. Peter Falk was quite young and the character quite dapper in the original Prescription Murder with Gene Barry. Someone must have decided soon after that that Columbo should be a scruffy, seemingly disorganised character as a gimmick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazio Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 He had a glass eye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) There were a number of regular supporting actors who appeared in numerous episodes as different characters. Most notably Patrick McGoohan, Robert Culp and Shera Danese (Falk's wife). Edited March 28, 2021 by Victorian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgan Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Are you reading this @martoon ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWL Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 17 minutes ago, Victorian said: There were a number of regular supporting actors who appeared in numerous episodes as different characters. Most notably Patrick McGoohan, Robert Culp and Shera Danese (Falk's wife). Patrick McGoohan did quite a few and him and Peter Falk were very good friends. Robert Culp was the culprit (sorry) on a few occasions too, he actually turned up as the lawyer father of a guilty party in one of the later episodes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leginten Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Peter Falk played a fine cameo role in the wonderful ’Wings of Desire’. Columbo is fantastic entertainment. I can happily watch two or three episodes one after the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Morgan said: Are you reading this @martoon ? Didn't see any today but usually catch an episode or two. They're on all day Sunday on 5USA. Love it. Never tire of watching the episodes from the original run. 1968 (pilot), 1971-78. Never could get on board with the relaunch from 1989, though. Just didn't have the same feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, leginten said: Peter Falk played a fine cameo role in the wonderful ’Wings of Desire’. Columbo is fantastic entertainment. I can happily watch two or three episodes one after the other. Done that a few times if I have the house to myself on a Sunday. Jack Cassidy is superbly sinister in his, iirc, 3 appearances. Love the scene when Columbo goes to the soup kitchen/missionary to chase up a homeless, alcoholic witness. The nun just assumes he's also a vagrant. Even tries to take the famous raincoat from him with the promise of something better. Dick Van Dyke is the miscreant in that one. Edited March 28, 2021 by martoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 3 hours ago, JamesM48 said: Loved it . During lockdown watched most of the episodes online . Peter Falk was a very fine actor . Yes the programme was ground breaking due to its plot line , in which the viewer knew the murderer from the start . Most of the plots were well written and had clever stories to them . Some great guest stars too in the classic episodes from the 1970 s such as Anne Baxter , Patrick mc Goohan, Leonard Nimoy , Vera Miles , Lee Grant and William Shatner Love the Shatner one. Brilliantly overacted by him, as usual, but it works well. The actor who played chekhov in Star Trek makes a brief appearance too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 2 hours ago, JWL said: Patrick McGoohan did quite a few and him and Peter Falk were very good friends. Robert Culp was the culprit (sorry) on a few occasions too, he actually turned up as the lawyer father of a guilty party in one of the later episodes. Pretty sure Robert Culp holds the record for most guest appearances. Four, I think, in the 70's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMFC01 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) I have watched more columbo episodes than most other detective series. Plus the films. Was great 👍. His dog, car, coat, mannerisms, speech, accent was a good character and an excellent persona for the villains to "try" and deceive. Murder she wrote was not bad as well. But got more boring because of her character. Monk is great, I watched alot of them. More comedy in Monk. Edited March 29, 2021 by HMFC01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¼½¾ Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 1 hour ago, martoon said: Pretty sure Robert Culp holds the record for most guest appearances. Four, I think, in the 70's. He also appeared in an episode of the shit spin off, Mrs Columbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjcc Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 5 hours ago, Tazio said: He had a glass eye. Peter Falk did, but did Columbo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 4 hours ago, gjcc said: Peter Falk did, but did Columbo? Ha ha. Yes he did. He mentioned it in at least one film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 6 hours ago, Lemongrab said: He also appeared in an episode of the shit spin off, Mrs Columbo. Never seen it, bud. Don't believe I've ever seen Culp in anything other than Columbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¼½¾ Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 11 minutes ago, martoon said: Never seen it, bud. Don't believe I've ever seen Culp in anything other than Columbo. This is the one he's in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Gin Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 14 hours ago, JWL said: Watching now as nothing else on. Quite simply the best TV detective series ever shown on telly. The Bridge wins that accolade for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Findlay Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 9 hours ago, martoon said: Done that a few times if I have the house to myself on a Sunday. Jack Cassidy is superbly sinister in his, iirc, 3 appearances. Love the scene when Columbo goes to the soup kitchen/missionary to chase up a homeless, alcoholic witness. The nun just assumes he's also a vagrant. Even tries to take the famous raincoat from him with the promise of something better. Dick Van Dyke is the miscreant in that one. Negative reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Findlay Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Columbo was the complete opposite to the likes of The Streets of San Francisco, Ironside, Starsky and Hutch. Columbo used his brain and his talent to get under the suspects skin. He never fired a gun, in fact he never carried one. An American cop who never carried a gun! Favourite episodes of mine are. When Donald Pleasence plays a vineyard owner and murders his brother. When Louis Jordan plays a famous food critic and murders a restaurant owner. Martin Landau playing a double part of twin brothers, one a TV chef the other a banker who murder their rich uncle. There is an episode where Jamie Lee Curtis has a very small part as a waitress. Think it is the the sky high murder. Jack Cassidy as the nightclub magician, Robert Loggia is in this episode. The one where Patrick McGoohan is the Colonel of a military cadet academy. Young Bruno Kirby(The unfunny officer in Good Morning Vietnam who with J T Walsh gets rid of Robin William's DJ in the end.), his dad Bruce plays a Sargeant in quite a few episodes in the early 70s episodes. One of the very later ones I did like was George Wendt of cheers fame playing a chain smoking racehorse trainer who murders his brother and tries to frame the mafia for it. The mafia boss played by Rod Steiger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 9 minutes ago, John Findlay said: Negative reaction. That's it. Columbo only gets him in the end with a bit of trick photography. I like that small roles are often played by recurring actors. The wee bloke who played the wino, who witnessed Van Dykes 2nd murder, was in many episodes. There were 2/3 others who cropped up here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Findlay Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Just now, martoon said: That's it. Columbo only gets him in the end with a bit of trick photography. I like that small roles are often played by recurring actors. The wee bloke who played the wino, who witnessed Van Dykes 2nd murder, was in many episodes. There were 2/3 others who cropped up here and there. Correct, that wee bloke was in another good one with Patrick McGoohan who is a CIA agent who bumps of Leslie Neilsen on the beach. It's the speech he writes for the wee bloke as he mentions about the Chinese pulling out of the Olympic games, Munich 72 or Montreal 76, I cant remember that Columbo gets him with in the End. Eddie Albert plays a retired general who is the murderer. Robert Vaughan was a murderer on a cruise ship then a victim in another episode. Ricardo Moltaban also in an episode set in Mexico. Not that I watch Columbo lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) 23 minutes ago, John Findlay said: Correct, that wee bloke was in another good one with Patrick McGoohan who is a CIA agent who bumps of Leslie Neilsen on the beach. It's the speech he writes for the wee bloke as he mentions about the Chinese pulling out of the Olympic games, Munich 72 or Montreal 76, I cant remember that Columbo gets him with in the End. Eddie Albert plays a retired general who is the murderer. Robert Vaughan was a murderer on a cruise ship then a victim in another episode. Ricardo Moltaban also in an episode set in Mexico. Not that I watch Columbo lol. I'm trying to ration posts on this thread but largely failing. 😊 Pick of the bunch for me: Murder By The Book Etude in Black A Stitch in Crime Swan Song A Friend in Deed Troubled Waters By Dawn's Early Light Any Old Port in a Storm Negative Reaction Playback Fade Into Murder Try and Catch Me How to Dlal a Murder The Conspirators There's one or two, from the original run, that fall a bit short, "Blueprint For Murder" for example, but it is, overall, a fine body of work. Edited March 29, 2021 by martoon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoolfordsHearts Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Love watching Columbo. Recommend youtubing Peter Falk on the celebrity roasting of Frank Sinatra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Maroonblood Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Dixon of Dock Green was the best followed by Z Cars. 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XB52 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 9 hours ago, HMFC01 said: I have watched more columbo episodes than most other detective series. Plus the films. Was great 👍. His dog, car, coat, mannerisms, speech, accent was a good character and an excellent persona for the villains to "try" and deceive. Murder she wrote was not bad as well. But got more boring because of her character. Monk is great, I watched alot of them. More comedy in Monk. Been watching all the Monk episodes the last few weeks, my favourite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SectionDJambo Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Like many people of the time, I thought Columbo was geat viewing when you only had 2 or 3 channels to watch. I now find myself struggling to find something to watch when I've got a few dozen channels for choice. My own favourite of the 70s was The Rockford Files. James Garner was perfect for the role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Potter Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 37 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said: Dixon of Dock Green was the best followed by Z Cars. 😀 i can just remember that😏. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victorian Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 1 hour ago, John Findlay said: Columbo was the complete opposite to the likes of The Streets of San Francisco, Ironside, Starsky and Hutch. Columbo used his brain and his talent to get under the suspects skin. He never fired a gun, in fact he never carried one. An American cop who never carried a gun! Favourite episodes of mine are. When Donald Pleasence plays a vineyard owner and murders his brother. When Louis Jordan plays a famous food critic and murders a restaurant owner. Martin Landau playing a double part of twin brothers, one a TV chef the other a banker who murder their rich uncle. There is an episode where Jamie Lee Curtis has a very small part as a waitress. Think it is the the sky high murder. Jack Cassidy as the nightclub magician, Robert Loggia is in this episode. The one where Patrick McGoohan is the Colonel of a military cadet academy. Young Bruno Kirby(The unfunny officer in Good Morning Vietnam who with J T Walsh gets rid of Robin William's DJ in the end.), his dad Bruce plays a Sargeant in quite a few episodes in the early 70s episodes. One of the very later ones I did like was George Wendt of cheers fame playing a chain smoking racehorse trainer who murders his brother and tries to frame the mafia for it. The mafia boss played by Rod Steiger. Yes it's a recurring theme that he never carries a gun but he actually does fire one in Troubled Waters. He fires a gun into a mattress to do a ballistics test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Maroonblood Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 7 minutes ago, Harry Potter said: i can just remember that😏. Inspector Barlow was a great character in Z Cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyJudyJudy Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Its generally agreed among the uber fans that the best episodes were in the 1970s . The later ones were too long and over inflated and didn't have as many good guest star actors as such. My favorites are Ransom for a dead man . with Lee Grant . which has one of the best " gotchas" Murder by the book with Jack Cassidy Etude in black with the great John Cassavettes ( lifelong friend of Falk ) The most crucial game with the great Robert Culp and one of the most ingenious plots Requiem for a fallen star ...if only for the superb Anne Baxter Lovely but lethal.... great gotcha too... A friend in deed with the great Richard Kiley] Negative reaction with Dick Van Dyke Now you see him Fade to murder with the over the top hamminess of William Shatner Try and catch me. my second favorite episode with a great cat and mouse game with the terrific old veteran actress Ruth Gordon Of the later episodes i liked Columbo goes to the Gullitone Murder smoke and shadows Columbo cries wolf....which has a really good twist in it Agenda for murder with the great Patrick Mcgoohan Columbo goes to college...probably the best later episode I am a fan. Peter Falk held it all together with his great acting thoughout He was a great actors in many other films and tv shows. I always feel he never got the recognition he really deserved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyJudyJudy Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 3 hours ago, Lemongrab said: This is the one he's in. I recall this. it was a flop and only lasted one season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martoon Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 33 minutes ago, JamesM48 said: Its generally agreed among the uber fans that the best episodes were in the 1970s . The later ones were too long and over inflated and didn't have as many good guest star actors as such. My favorites are Ransom for a dead man . with Lee Grant . which has one of the best " gotchas" Murder by the book with Jack Cassidy Etude in black with the great John Cassavettes ( lifelong friend of Falk ) The Most Crucial Game with the great Robert Culp and one of the most ingenious plots Requiem for a fallen star ...if only for the superb Anne Baxter Lovely but lethal.... great gotcha too... A friend in deed with the great Richard Kiley] Negative reaction with Dick Van Dyke Now you see him Fade to murder with the over the top hamminess of William Shatner Try and catch me. my second favorite episode with a great cat and mouse game with the terrific old veteran actress Ruth Gordon Of the later episodes i liked Columbo goes to the Gullitone Murder smoke and shadows Columbo cries wolf....which has a really good twist in it Agenda for murder with the great Patrick Mcgoohan Columbo goes to college...probably the best later episode I am a fan. Peter Falk held it all together with his great acting thoughout He was a great actors in many other films and tv shows. I always feel he never got the recognition he really deserved. The episode set around American football? Another classic. Omitted it from my favourites list as I mixed it up with the Laurence Harvey/chess one. An adequate episode but not great, Imo. Agree about Shatner. A role where is hamminess actually paid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyJudyJudy Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 1 minute ago, martoon said: The episode set around American football? Another classic. Omitted it from my favourites list as I mixed it up with the Laurence Harvey/chess one. An adequate episode but not great, Imo. Agree about Shatner. A role where is hamminess actually paid off. Yes it was the one about American football . I like William Shatner. His twitter page is hilarious . He just doesn't give a flying **** any more and regularly gets into spats with woke types. He was 90 last week and still going strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Boy Named Crow Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 This thread inspired me to get the wife into Columbo, she'd never seen any. I'd heard they were all on YouTube. Things did not go well though. In amongst all the clips, there was a full length video. I fired it on, the murder took ages to play out though. It wasn't until we were way, way into "Murder By Natural Causes" (not a Columbo) that I realised my mistake! Tomorrow night it is then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Potter Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 2 hours ago, The Real Maroonblood said: Inspector Barlow was a great character in Z Cars. aye bud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyJudyJudy Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 38 minutes ago, A Boy Named Crow said: This thread inspired me to get the wife into Columbo, she'd never seen any. I'd heard they were all on YouTube. Things did not go well though. In amongst all the clips, there was a full length video. I fired it on, the murder took ages to play out though. It wasn't until we were way, way into "Murder By Natural Causes" (not a Columbo) that I realised my mistake! Tomorrow night it is then... Yes I got that video too one time assuming it was a Columbo episode lol I watched most of mine through my stick and 5 star USA channel has them every Sunday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Boy Named Crow Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 5 minutes ago, JamesM48 said: Yes I got that video too one time assuming it was a Columbo episode lol I watched most of mine through my stick and 5 star USA channel has them every Sunday I felt the ending was a bit farcical in MBNC, looking forward to Columbo getting some toff telt tomorrow night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auldbenches Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 1 hour ago, A Boy Named Crow said: This thread inspired me to get the wife into Columbo, she'd never seen any. I'd heard they were all on YouTube. Things did not go well though. In amongst all the clips, there was a full length video. I fired it on, the murder took ages to play out though. It wasn't until we were way, way into "Murder By Natural Causes" (not a Columbo) that I realised my mistake! Tomorrow night it is then... I was going to ask where the best place to find the old episodes. I tried a couple of YouTube ones in the past and he sounded different. Could do with watching them to get over this lockdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Findlay Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 4 hours ago, Auldbenches said: I was going to ask where the best place to find the old episodes. I tried a couple of YouTube ones in the past and he sounded different. Could do with watching them to get over this lockdown. Sunday all day on 5 USA ch 153 on Virgin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auldbenches Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 59 minutes ago, John Findlay said: Sunday all day on 5 USA ch 153 on Virgin Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pap Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Any Old Port in a Storm was great. One of the very few episodes that Columbo felt for the killer. Was nice to see him bring a rare bottle of wine along for Carsini to have a last drink on route to jail. Really good episode. I think on of the very few times he gets angry is to Leonard Nimoy during A Stitch in Crime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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